From the Director...
As we begin a new semester and a new year, I want to extend the Institute's best wishes to faculty, students, administrators, staff, and friends for a healthy, happy and productive year ahead.
As I was completing the year-end report for the Institute, which includes 12 projects, research activities, and initiatives, I couldn't help but be impressed by the successes of our faculty and project coordinators and by the expansive outreach and impact they have on children and adults in national, state and local communities. I am also reminded of the critical support we all receive every day from our colleagues in several units on campus that support our efforts and make our successes possible. I want to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge and thank them individually for their expertise, commitment, and patience.
Joy Morimoto in the Development Office provides critical assistance in maintaining and creating relationships with funders, helps us to fine-tune our proposals, and reminds us of those reports that are due. Arlene Essex in the Foundation office patiently facilitates our expenditures, provides guidance when we can't figure out which forms to use, and lends us her considerable expertise in strategizing and preparing proposal budgets. Mark Angstman, also at the Foundation, provides support and guidance to our new staff and, with Arlene, delivered to them a detailed orientation to foundation procedures and policies.
The post award staff in ORSP deals with us on a daily basis. Susan Pelton and Karen Lee guide us through the most complicated issues. Roosmery Yang, Mariaelena Barbosa, and Ray Vogelzang respond to our multiple questions about expenditures, while Michelle Gagnon, Maria Saguisag-Sid, Sara Holt, and Melissa Bonilla advise us on employee issues and handle all our faculty, staff and new hire requests, and compensation questions.
Although we spend less time with pre-award staff, no matter how busy they are, when it is our turn to get a grant out the door or when we have a short turn-around time, or need someone to edit a proposal or develop a budget, they make sure every detail is covered and the deadlines are met. To Jackie White, Paul Barrows, Sherry Deng, Joanne Lee, Kerri Santos and Barbara Ustanko: when we say thanks, please know how grateful we are to have you all there! And finally, a special thanks goes to Nancy Robinson who supports all four projects in the U56 Comprehensive Cancer project.
To everyone, thank you for your help throughout the year. We look forward to working with you as we embark on another successful year of efforts that will enhance the quality of life for children, youth and families.
CAD Connections
by Rene F. Dahl, Ph.D.CAD Coordinator
On behalf of the faculty, I am pleased to extend a welcome to the new CAD majors this semester. Some of the new majors are transferring from other four year colleges, while others are already SFSU students who have changed their majors. We are also happy to welcome a large group of students from City College of San Francisco’s Early Childhood Education Program. We wish each of you the best of luck at SFSU and encourage you to seek advising to help you develop your course of study here.
Both sections of the new CAD 500 course, Action Research Methods, are filled. This course fulfills the research requirement in the core. We are excited to offer this course that was designed specifically for our majors and encourage you to give us feedback about the course throughout the semester. You can email me at rdahl@sfsu.edu if you have questions or comments about the course.
As you know, all of the universities that are part of the California State University (CSU) system including SFSU, are facing budget cuts. While we do not know yet any details about specific cuts for the CAD program or the other departments in which our majors take courses, we do know that fewer courses will be offered across campus and the demand to get into those courses will increase. We will work closely with other departments to try to ensure that CAD majors continue to have access to courses they need and we will update you on the budget when we find out more information.
To end on a more positive note, the CAD program will be hiring a new assistant professor and is looking for someone with an expertise in youth and family services. This position was one of four that was approved for the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and is the second tenure track faculty position CAD has received in three years. During the spring semester we will let you know when you can meet the candidates for the new position and encourage all of you do so and provide us with feedback.
Best wishes to both new and returning CAD majors for a very successful semester!
New Student Orientation
January 27th in HSS 248 at 11am
Advising Day For Spring 2004
January 27th in SCI 394 at 1pm - 3pm
New Intern Orientation
January 27th in HSS 310 at 4pm - 5pm
JEPET(Junior English Proficiency Essay Test)
Sign-Up Deadline: Feb. 6, 2004
Sign-Up Deadline: May 7, 2004
State Budget Impact on Child Care: the Good and the Bad
On January 9, 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, following the traditional press briefing, released the long-awaited details of his FY 2004-05 Budget proposal. He said that his $76 billion Budget "puts California on the path to recovery." Here, from Tim Fitzharris, Ph.D., Legislative Advocate at the Child Development Policy Institute, is an analysis of the FY 2004-05 budget impacts on Child Care:Community Care Licensing
As already announced in his mid-year proposal, he proposes that SDSS' Community Care Licensing division be self-supporting. That is, fees collected equal the cost of the State-run program. Accordingly, he would increase fees for all license categories - including child care - in approximately equal increments over a three-year period, until the State cost is supported entirely by fees collected. This proposal is projected to result in increased General Fund revenues of approximately $5.8 million in 2004-05.
CalWORKs Child Care
Stages. Stage 1 would remain the same. Stage 2 would be extended to three years after cash aid ends, with the option to extend one additional year should there not be room in the General Child Care (working poor) programs. (Stage 2 families would be allowed to immediately compete on waiting lists for "non-time limited general child care program slots" with other working poor families.) Stage 3? It is hard to tell from the summary write-up if the Stage 3 set aside is eliminated. At one point, it speaks of expanding Stage 2 to a total of three years (or four in some cases) and former recipients are to compete on GCC waiting lists. At another point, it talks about Stage 3 savings and that $15 million of Prop 98 dollars is added to Stage 3. I think that elimination is being proposed but we will clarify and advise in the next CDPI Bulletin.
Child Care Eligibility
Geographical costs recognized. A new three-tiered income eligibility structure for general child care programs is proposed to better compensate for the high cost of housing in certain geographical areas of the State. "Savings would accrue by reducing the current income eligibility maximum in lower cost counties, as defined by the county divisions applicable to CalWORKs assistance grants. This will contribute to greater equity in the distribution of limited subsidies." Annual adjustment. Beginning in 2005-06, annual adjustments for changes in income eligibility would be based on the California Necessities Index (CNI), "a more stable index that better reflects the actual costs facing participating families." Time limits. The Governor proposes that "the need basis for child care related to education and training in SDE-administered programs all be limited to two years, consistent with the practice for CalWORKs programs. This will provide greater equity to families needing assistance to work." Older children. Services to 13 year olds would be permanently eliminated and services to 11 and 12 year olds would be continued, "only when local before- and after-school programs are not available."
Family Fees
When fees begin; a ceiling. "A reduction is proposed in the fee-payment threshold, from 50 percent of the state median income (SMI), as adjusted for family size, to approximately 40 percent of the SMI, the level at which a family exits cash aid. Through gradual increases based on family income, fees would not exceed 10 percent of income as suggested in federal guidelines." CPS cases. The current fee exemption for Child Protective Services cases would be limited to one year. Paid to provider. The Governor proposes that all fees be paid directly to the child care provider. "This would standardize practices among agencies that administer vouchers, saving administrative effort and further promoting personal responsibility."
Child Care Rates
Differing rates for differing care. The Administration notes that no other state authorized payments exceeding the 75th percentile of the market for licensed care and that many states do not reimburse exempt providers at all. The Governor proposes that reimbursement rate limits would begin at the 40th percentile of the regional market rate (for license-exempt providers with no training) and would range up to the 85th percentile of the market for licensed providers serving unsubsidized families "who can demonstrate the integration of early childhood development principles and have achieved accreditation." "These sliding scales will provide incentives to providers to become licensed, improve the quality of child care, and provide a reasonable market-based reimbursement level tied to the quality of care when a provider serves only subsidized families."
Scary Stories in San Francisco
Jumpstart San Francisco, Starbucks Coffee, and San Francisco State University collaborated for a fun filled Halloween Harvest Fest, held at SF State's student center on October 31st. All local Jumpstart program partners were invited to the learning fair, and over 200 children, teachers, and parents from six centers attended. Some children were able to attend only because the local bus union graciously donated their time and buses to provide rides to the event. The children wore their costumes and decorated trick-or-treat bags, painted mini pumpkins, listened to scary stories in a spooky tent, felt brain matter and eyeballs, and created bats and ghosts! The 16 active learning stations included ones sponsored by SF State's Recreation 380 class, and members of
Jumstart’s Harvestfest the SF Theatre Department performed a hilarious version of “Where the Wild Things Are” on the main stage. The highlight of the festival occurred when a spontaneous costume show and dance party burst out with three and four year old Incredible Hulks and Princesses grooving to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" remix on the stage.
The event closed with a presentation of speakers. San Francisco State representatives John Gemello, VP for Academic Affairs, and Dean Kassiola, the Dean of the School of Human and Social Sciences, praised Jumpstart as a great example of the University's commitment to community service, and recognized and honored the work of Site Manager, Lygia Stebbing, CMs, and other program staff.
Each child left with a huge smile from ear to ear, and a take-home bag with candy, a storybook, a toothbrush or toothpaste, and a Halloween coloring book. A huge thanks to everyone who made this event possible! We hope to repeat the effort next year!
Mission Science Goes Digging
by Beth Copanas
Although I learned about dinosaurs in school and saw some articulated skeletons of dinosaurs in museums, I never expected to have the opportunity to participate in an actual excavation of dinosaur fossils. PBS documentaries and autobiographical literature written by paleontologists seemed like the closest I would come to such an opportunity.
An Earthwatch scholarship that sent me to Argentina changed all of that, however. The work was different than I anticipated. I assumed paleontologists dig for bones in a quadrant-like manner until they locate fossils for excavation. When I arrived at camp, it became clear that we would be working in a location new to the Argentinean research team. Therefore, it was our job to "prospect" for dinosaur bones in the Los Colorados Formation. The Formation consists of two large ridges of alternating clay and sandstone strata in between which are smaller canyons, ridges and hills of eroding sediment. Prospecting consisted of hiking around large sections of the region looking carefully for any fossilized bones that may have eroded out of the sediment.
For the first three days of the expedition, I wandered around under the hot desert sun for 7 hours a day straining to find fossilized bone remains in a seemingly endless ocean of rock and sediment. I struggled during those first few days to keep myself motivated and enthusiastic. After three days of mistaking mineralized rock concretions for bone, I was relieved and excited to literally stumble over the well-preserved vertebrae and scapula remains of a dinosaur. There is something magical about being the first to discover the remains of an animal that no longer exists, but once dominated our planet. Once I found bone, my enthusiasm for prospecting improved dramatically and I became better at differentiating fossils from look alike rocks.
This Earthwatch expedition was an amazing experience for me and one that as an educator I am hopeful will resonate with my Mission Science co-workers and especially the students and teachers with whom I work. I hope to develop an exhibit for our workshop space and classroom activities for the students and teachers.
CAD Program seeks qualified applicants for Assistant Professor position
The Child and Adolescent Development Program at San Francisco State University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor to begin August, 2004.
Minimum qualifications include an earned doctorate and demonstrated potential for excellence in teaching, research, and community service. The successful candidate will teach action research methods, professional roles in child and adolescent development, an internship seminar and develop courses dealing with youth, families, and community. Prior successful teaching experience in a multicultural institution and work with youth and families in ethnically diverse community settings are highly desirable.
The Child and Adolescent Development Program at San Francisco State University is an interdisciplinary program that offers a B.A. degree. It is housed in the Marian Wright Edelman Institute for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. San Francisco State University is an urban, multicultural university of over 25,000 students. For more information, see the following web sites: San Francisco State University (http://www.sfsu.edu), the Child and Adolescent Development Program (http://cadp.sfsu.edu), the Marian Wright Edelman Institute for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families (http://edelman.sfsu.edu), and the San Francisco Bay Area (http://www.sfgate.com).
To apply, submit a cover letter explaining your interest and qualifications, current curriculum vitae, and a writing sample to:
Dr. Charlotte Ferretti
Chair, Search Committee
Child and Adolescent Development Program
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue, SCI 394
San Francisco, CA 94132
ferretti@sfsu.edu
Review of applications will begin in February and will continue until the position is filled. San Francisco State University is an Affirmative Action Equal Opportunity Employer. Members of historically underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.
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